Bill Tieleman is one of BC's best known communicators, political commentators and strategists.
Bill writes a politics column Tuesdays in 24 Hours newspaper and The Tyee online magazine.
Bill has been Communications Director in the B.C. Premier's Office and at the BC Federation of Labour.
Bill owns West Star Communications, a consulting firm providing strategy and communication services for labour, business, non-profits and government.

The B.C. Liberals are
ruining TV watching and radio listening with an endless $15 million
taxpayer-funded parade of ads that are not only misleading and wasteful but
also that we are paying for!

Enough!

All British
Columbians want our economy to grow, our industries to prosper and our citizens
to find good jobs.

But the only
positions these ridiculous "B.C. Jobs
Plan" ads create are in advertising agency boardrooms and
Clark's own office!

Selling cynicism

It's the worst kind
of politics -- and not just because it offends taxpayers who see a government
spending $15 million that could be used to help children at risk or reduce
hospital emergency room overcrowding or improve crime prevention.

No, it's even more
sickening because it makes people even more cynical about elected
representatives when government actually has a critical role to help those in
need.

That's one lousy way
to further reduce already declining participation in our democratic process --
where B.C. had a depressing 51 per cent turnout
in the 2009 provincial election.

The ads are not only
unnecessary; they're also untrue.

Sun Media columnist
David Akin pointed that out, saying
Clark's claim
that B.C. created more jobs than any other province in the last year was
"demonstrably false" and her other stats were "pretty wobbly
too."

"Statistics
Canada, said right here
on Oct. 5, the most recent and up-to-date snapshot of the country's job
creation numbers, that 'over the last year' in B.C., there are 44,700 more
full-time jobs, 15,100 fewer part-time jobs for a net gain of 29,500 more jobs.
Where on earth does Clark get 57,000 new jobs created?" Akin wrote.

It's also hard to
believe B.C. has a great "Skills and Training Plan" when up to 2,000
miners will come to the province as Temporary Foreign Workers -- because the
government had no response to its own task force
report calling for miner training four years ago.

Doing government
'differently'

What's worse is a
premier who just doesn't get it.

Clark was recently asked
by the Kamloops Daily News about criticism of her $15 million ad campaign and
responded this way:

"It's about
content. What we're talking about in the advertising is all fact-based. So we
talk about the jobs plan, we try to engage people in the jobs plan because one
of the things that we have to do as we're building government policy is get the
opinions and the best thinking of the people of the province," Clark said.

"So, I said I
was going to do government differently. One of the things we need to is we
really need to listen to people and engage them in their own government,"
she concluded.

Is that how you
"do government differently" -- by personally appearing
in some of the 90-second TV ads?

By spending
taxpayers' own money to tell them you are doing a great job?

Gagging

And the sheer
hypocrisy is breathtaking.

This government
spending oodles of money to promote itself is the same one that tried to defend
its gag law that prohibited third party advertising before provincial elections
-- until the B.C. Court of Appeal rejected its
legislation. Again.

It's also the same
government that spent $6 million in a failed advertising effort to convince
taxpayers in last year's binding referendum that the Harmonized Sales Tax was a
brilliant idea.

Their advertising
policy has gotten so offensive that even longtime B.C. Liberal supporters have
had it.

On Shaw Cable's Voice
Of B.C. last week he told
host Vaughn Palmer that the $15 million ad budget is: "About the same
price in total on environmental protection as we’re spending on these
ads."

"I think first
of all we should remember that every penny of that money is borrowed,"
Brown added. "We're going into debt to pay for those ads, so they better
be worth it."

Martyn Brown's bright
idea

Brown has a
suggestion that I've made before to solve the problem: require opposition
approval for government ads.

"Refer all major
proposed government ad campaigns to an all-party committee that can scrutinize
and approve or reject those expenditures, and make public that information as
soon as any ad campaign goes public," Brown wrote
in an opinion piece last month.

If the official
opposition agrees that it's worthwhile information for the public to see, hear
or read -- then go with it. If taxpayers disagree, both parties will hear about
it equally.

Cynics will rightly
note that Brown had 10 years as Campbell's top political staffer and was involved
in every major government ad campaign but never implemented his own idea --
fair enough criticism.

But that doesn't make
it a bad idea.

And Clark would be smart to
realize that Canada doesn't start here -- anger starts here when a wasteful
government spends our money to advertise itself for political advantage.

Sorry. Martyn Brown has no right, to even open his mouth about anything. He was the brain dead witness at the trial, of Campbell's theft and corrupt sale of our BCR. We wondered, if he would be able to, remember his way home from court.

Christy makes me furious. She says, we have the lowest taxes in Canada. However, she always forgets to mention the HST. You add 7% on pretty much everything. No money came trickling down from big business, as Campbell and Hansen promised. We are paying Harper and Christy to steal from us. BC citizens have had no benefit from the HST, what-so-ever. Big business jacked their prices up, even higher.

That Christy is stealing our tax dollars, for her futile campaign, is nothing new. We saw her and her ministers spending. When we have to pay, for nail salon visits. I guess anything goes.

In Ms. Clark's mind its only money except it's our money being spent on crazy adds, while real programs affecting real people are shortchanges.The scary part is that some people actually believe the crap they are selling

Yeah. My mother, a pensioner of GIS, lives with other pensioners in a small rural subdivision that after 44 years of neglect by the owner/operator of the water system, who got it for one dollar and milked it ever since, is now facing a yearly bill for 1300 dollars as her contribution for a new water system. Total cost will be a bit over 10 million dollars. For the second year running, in spite of lowering the amount requested, no provincial grant money was announced at the UBCM annual meeting. There isn't any money available.

Well this is an opportunity for the NDP to show leadership. No, absolutely NO government paid "feel good" ads, ever. There's no need to send "the message" through expensive ads as the internet is easily accessible. If there's a major initiative that does need marketing such as a new social service or a hospital, fine, but no ads regarding"we're on track for a better British Columbia". None.

Let the MLAs get the message out to their ridings and make them do it.

Also, there needs to be some kind of direction that the NDP Caucus Research will NOT at any time use government time for partisan purposes.

If the NDP starts the same thing, then it won't be long until blog contributors actually belive the crap the NDP will be selling.

I would tend to disagree with anon 3:23 on one point.Martyn Brown is one sharp guy. Used to run into him on treaty meetings. His memory was great and knew who to cozy up to. He went on the stand, and like so many others got amnesia. Christy took over and shuffled him into the side lines. Not a bright move Christy because he sure knows where the bodies lie, as the old saying goes. He is speaking out now and the more he talks the worse Ms. Photo op looks to be.

The nice thing about Bill,s blog is he allows comment from all sides of an issue. I just wish the security , I'm not a robot was easier to see, and I've got 20/20 vision

How can anyone with a shred of decency, morals, intelligence, integrity, honesty and common sense defend the liberals on how they govern this province.What a waste of Bc taxpayer money Crusty was misquoted when she said "Families first" Your motto "Families First" was so meaningless unless you meant "Chinese families first". The BC liberal government is quick to help out thousands of immigrant legal and illegal immagrants that has not put a nickle into our economy .The BC liberal Temporary Foreign Worker program is increasingly little more than a government-sanctioned way for big business foreeign owned corpereating to by-pass Canadian workers and substitute with cheap foreign labor.Reality means nothing ,perception is everthing.

The B.C. liberals just took other huge hit with this one.It is just more proof were the BC liberals and crusty Clark priority are.More smoke and mirrors from the Liberals and Clark to give the impression that they are interested in what voters think., when in actual fact, they could care less. I find itIronic in that the province is broke, and still issuing massive royalty credits to liberal supporting non resident gas producers. Maybe if they had all the revenue from natural gas instead of giving most of it away they could assist with some other programs. Maybe ensuring that the most income tax revenue is generated by natural gas service jobs, rather than evaporating into china and the USA would also help on the revenue side.Maybe not giving a way dividend paying assets like BC Rail would help with the revenue side.Crusty Clark plan is to bluff her way through every problem with platitudes and the big grin! That's what has worked for her all her life and if the people of B.C. let her get away with it, she'll keep using it. Not to mention a full on criminal for her role in BC Rail.Shame on the BC liberal blowing 15 Million dollars of taxpayer money when we have the second worst child poverty rate in canada SHAME

$15M on ads??? What a waste of money. This province is in debt up to its eyeballs & c.c. spends that kind of money on ads which reflect only her version of the facts! Given her credit card tab, I am not surprised by the amount of money being spent. I can't stand the comercials. They aren't true. The comericials are clearly, at least to me, pre election comericials for the lieberal party. I suggest they take them down & spend the money on something worth while, like the emergency at Surrey Memorial Hospital, or on the retro fit of some of B.C.'s schools, etc.

like the article but please do something about the "captcha" thing. I can't read it half the time & that is when it comes up. Harvey O.'s is much more readable. thanks.

The adds are on TV constantly. Each time I see how BC is in great shape etc etc, I think of the programs cut, the sneaky deals and the increased numbers of folks at the food bank and places like The Open Door, which is now feeding over one thousand a DAY. What a waste of money by a desperate gang

Bill Tieleman and Senator Larry Campbell, former Vancouver mayor

Jim Sinclair, Cindy Oliver, Ken Georgetti and Bill Tieleman

Bill Tieleman's coverage of the Basi-Virk/BC Legislature Raid Case praised by other journalists:

"This outstanding piece of journalism, in The Tyee, is the work of a journalist who has been deeply involved with this issue from the start and this article should be passed on as far and wide as possible."

"Bill Tieleman from 24 hours . . . . If you want to know about this trial and about this case, you have to read his blog – I mean, that’s just all there is to it – it’s required reading if you want to understand the BC Legislature Raid situation."

- Mike Smyth, columnist, The Province

"The Basi-Virk case....you’ve probably sat through more of these hearings and gone through more of the files and written about it than any other journalist in the province."

- Bill Good, host, The Bill Good Show, CKNW/Corus Radio Network

"Tieleman ...has done a first-rate job covering the trial."

- Paul Willcocks, columnist, the Victoria Times-Colonist

"Tieleman, who marries a considerable journalistic talent with one of the smartest political minds in the province, has been writing more web-exclusive material. And his coverage of the Basi-Virk trial is a must-read -- whether you're an insider or an outsider."

"24 Hours, the Vancouver paper that has been leading the coverage, as well as the hints of conspiracy in B.C."

- Norman Spector, columnist, Globe and Mail

"Although the major media in this circumstance has been giving the case significant coverage, Tieleman's reports on his blog have been outstanding.

The entire cut and thrust of legal wrangling and arguments has been covered and is accompanied by considered analysis.....His blog site coverage of the Basi-Virk trial is the most in depth treatment of one of British Columbia's biggest political scandals."

- Bill Bell, columnist, The North Shore News

"Mr. Tieleman has published online dispatches which, freed from the limitations of newsprint space or broadcast time, can run at length. They also remain available for those select readers who become obsessed with a case also known as Railgate.....

In another bizarre twist to a story with no shortage of them, Mr. Tieleman went to work one day in December only to discover his office had been ransacked. Bookcases had been tipped over and papers strewn, but nothing was missing.

To top it off, a press kit for the self-published novel The Raid, written by a retired military officer in Metchosin and featuring on its cover a photograph from the 2003 police raid, had been left in a conspicuous place."

- Tom Hawthorn, columnist, The Globe and Mail

Nobody has followed the Basi-Virk affair over its past five years with greater diligence than local journalist, Bill Tieleman....Tieleman deserves our thanks, a fistful of journalism awards and some merit citation for citizenship.